Like most everything else these days the cost of "art" inkjet printing paper seems to be going through the roof, so printmakers are seeking alternatives without sacrificing quality. The perceived issue with some so-called "third-party" papers (those that do not carry the printer maker's brand, thus lack a profile installed with the original start up...

Starting with the 2014 CES trade show, held at the turn of the year, and continuing through press time for this issue, we’ve seen a goodly number of new products come to the fore. All this is only the start—this being a photokina year we’ll see a whole new round of products, including CMOS-sensor medium formats, with prices to match, coming our way. I trust that this report will give you a good sense of what’s here and what’s coming down the pike. So, here are my quick picks of those products that caught my eye, plus a snapshot of some of the trends.

Fill flash can be used for a quick fix for contrast problems that can be solved without further image processing. It is a powerful aid that can even trump today’s in-camera or post-process heightening of shadow detail. It can handle the problem with one exposure, and not rely on HDR or other curve adjustment tricks. Keep in mind that the sensor in your camera has a certain dynamic range that cannot be expanded even with such processing magic, and with too much work on the shadows some noise may creep in.

Print surface decisions are usually conditional, that is, they depend on the look you want for each image and how you might intend to display the print later. There is a general wisdom that states that glossy surfaces make prints look “sharper” and matte makes them look “softer”, although that softness is more in overall tone and mood (and ink dispersion) than edge definition.

While weight is just one measure of a paper’s resilience and usefulness for fine art printing, it can also have an effect on how that paper is handled, depending on the printer. In the case of Red River’s Polar Matte Magna, which is a 96 lb (320 gsm) stock, it means working with individual sheet feeding rather than with a stack loader in almost every printer you might have. This feed-through also limits the printers that can make use of this nice surface—those without a single feed option need not apply, as well as, according to Red River’s notes, HP printers with front feed paper trays (which have also proven problematic with other heavyweight surfaces).

There’s no question that glossy and satin or pearl-type surfaces give an image more “pop,” but on the other hand you might want to use a matte surface to enhance the look and feel of certain images that rely less on pop than a quieter mood. It could be boiled down to a simple rule of thumb: for rich, high-saturation images you might use a glossy or semigloss; for more subtle colors it might be better to use a matte or satin. In the black-and-white realm it’s more of a toss-up but I think the same general rule applies. For example, for architectural images of adobe or stucco wall buildings I use matte; for glass and steel skyscrapers I choose glossy. Notice that I always modify the recommendations with “might”: if you really get into papers for printing you’ll make your own judgments. But there’s no denying that surface decisions play a role in overall effectiveness of the image.

Choosing the right paper for your prints is often a matter of surface texture and tone, but there’s more to it than that when printing for exhibition or display. It’s what the paper is made of, and the inks it can handle, that make the difference between a “warrantied” saleable print and one that might be used for quick display or repro. While there are no industry standards for print longevity as of yet, working with papers that could be dubbed “archival” by their very makeup is a good place to start.

As many of you know a dear friend and colleague left us not too long ago. The passing of someone close to us always gives us pause to consider how precious, and fragile, life is. Monte Zucker was one of the most talented photographers and educators I ever had the pleasure to know.

His energy, enthusiasm, and sense of sharing his craft was amazing, and inspirational.

In this issue we bring you our photokina report, a series of articles from our reporters who covered the huge photo show held this past fall in Cologne, Germany. Exhibitors from over 150 countries covering every aspect of the photo and imaging trade were there, and we spent five days trekking the massive halls, speaking to engineers, designers, and marketing folk about the new...

Every digital image starts out as a color image, an RGB that, when shot in Raw format and loaded as a 16-bit file, contains millions of color and brightness codes. These codes, or pixel addresses, can be manipulated in many ways using presets or “manual” adjustments to create looks that range from “true” to highly stylistic interpretations of the content within the image.